DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A naked man referenced a bomb at Daytona Beach International Airport, forcing the evacuation of the entire airport Friday morning, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.

  • Daytona Beach International Airport evacuated Friday morning
  • Sheriff: Naked man in terminal referenced a bomb
  • 25-year-old John Greenwood taken into custody
  • Travelers, visitors waited outside for hour and a half

During a news conference, Chitwood said at about 6 a.m., deputies found a naked man in the domestic terminal, identified later as 25-year-old John T. Greenwood, who said, "The bomb is going to go off."

The Sheriff's Office's bomb unit then began clearing the terminal.

Officials said Greenwood, wearing only socks, tried to climb on a baggage carousel and make his way onto the tarmac.

He was stunned with a stun gun and after he was taken into custody, he said, "We had to get out of here. The bomb is going to go off. I planted a bomb in the bathroom," Chitwood said.

Deputies found Greenwood's clothes and a bag in a woman's bathroom that was under construction, but no bomb was found, they said.

"There was an attempted security breach in the baggage claim area. The suspect was apprehended by sheriffs deputies and during that apprehension he made a bomb threat," the airport said in a statement.

According to Chitwood, Greenwood was fully clothed when he walked into the airport Friday morning. He said Greenwood walked into a women's bathroom, hollowed out a hole in a wall, stripped naked, put his clothes and bag in the wall and walked out naked. 

Chitwood said Greenwood has had previous encounters with law enforcement and told deputies that he had taken "molly" (also known as ecstasy) and other drugs the night before.

"He is resting comfortably in Halifax Hospital. He informed us that he ingested 'Molly' and a bunch of other drugs last night, so obviously there will be a slew of charges filed against him," Chitwood said.

Greenwood has addresses in Daytona Beach and Port Orange, according to Chitwood. He was arrested in 2017 for assault on an officer and was held under the Baker Act twice in the same year.

It was not immediately clear whether Greenwood was flying anywhere. Greenwood faces charges of burglary and falsely reporting a bomb and criminal mischief, all felonies.

Airport spokesman Jay Cassens said travelers were outside of the airport for an hour and a half.

Two flights were about to depart, but they did not leave. Passengers were to be re-screened, and the flights were not canceled, Cassens said.

"No one missed their flights" but might have missed their connecting flights at other airports, he said. The airlines will help with reconnections, he replied.

Cassens said there are two plans in place to evacuate the airport or a terminal: one for emergencies and a security plan with eight categories, such as disasters, weather or terrorism. He credited those plans for evacuating people out of the airport Friday morning.